Ok, I might be exaggerating slightly. But you catch my meaning, don’t you?

Democrats and their close friends and allies in the activist media have long eschewed the idea of countering the ideas of one’s political opponents with debate and argumentation. Instead, they prefer to call anyone who disagrees with them racist.

It’s a tale as old as time, and countless conservative commentators like myself have written oodles of articles on the subject. But there is an element in this equation that many have left unaddressed.

Conservatives, the far-left doesn’t actually think you’re a racist/sexist/homophobic istophobe.

Perhaps it is time to stop being so charitable to these people. They are not mistaken or deceived. Sure, many of the rank-and-file left-leaning Americans who hang on every utterance coming from people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jemele Hill, Joy Reid, and the rest of the Race Baiters Club™ might genuinely think conservatives are racists.

But the left-wing intelligentsia and the progressive chattering class know better and should not be treated as if they are simply ignorant. When they hurl false accusations of racism against Republicans and conservatives, they do so knowing that the targets of these allegations are not bigots.

Now, I realize that it is impossible to read minds. One cannot simply peer into the psyches of these people like the X-Men’s Charles Xavier. But we can read actions, can’t we?

Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine and head back to 2010 when the whole “Journolist” scandal was brought to light. This particular story exposed the fact that a group of left-leaning journalists – or media activists, as I like to call them – were colluding with one another to brainstorm ways to protect then-President Barack Obama from criticism.

The group of alleged journalists came up with various strategies to protect Obama and discredit his critics. One of the most notable tactics, suggested by media activist Spencer Ackerman, was to use race-baiting to distract from the former president’s problematic relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. He recommended that they select one of Obama’s conservative critics, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares – and call them racists.”

Note that Ackerman did not suggest that they find examples of any of these people being racist. He did not recommend pointing to actual racist behavior. He simply said: “Call them racists.”

From this statement, it is easy to see that people like Ackerman don’t care whether the people who disagree with them politically are authentic racists. Indeed, they view racism as a helpful cudgel with which to bludgeon conservatives. But, of course, it would be silly to assume that Ackerman is the only media activist who employed this tactic, knowing that the target of his ire is not actually a racist.

But if that particular revelation isn’t enough, we can also look at how the left responds to what they claim is racism. Let’s take police brutality, for example. What do most of the high-profile victims of police brutality have in common?

It’s easy.

They were all killed in cities governed by Democrats. Left-leaning politicians and activists constantly rail against the evils of police brutality against members of the black community and attribute it to systemic racism. However, you will never hear any of these individuals acknowledge that it is local governance that allows for these abuses of authority.

Instead, they shift their audience’s focus to legislation that has been proposed at the federal level, where they know it will not make much of a difference. Even if the police reform measures they are championing pass, it won’t matter when local municipalities are the ones who create an environment in which police officers can abuse their authority without having to worry about repercussions. Moreover, at this point, it is clear that no significant legislation on law enforcement will be passed.

If these people truly cared about police brutality, they would focus their criticism on politicians at the local level. But, of course, this would mean that they would have to call out Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other Democratic officials who have done little to nothing to address the issue.

To put it simply, Democrats don’t take any real action to address issues they claim are fueled by racial bigotry. Why?

Because they don’t give a you-know-what about racism. Indeed, these people love racism like a gunslinger loves his gun. To them, racism is not a societal evil to be fought; it is a political weapon to be wielded against conservatives. It is something to be exploited, not repudiated.

It is also worth pointing out that the main reason why the left has succeeded at portraying conservatives as racist is that the right tends to avoid conversations regarding racism. Since they have chosen not to engage in the discussion, progressives have used their absence to weave false narratives about people on the right.

While the hard left has chosen to deceive people into believing the GOP is racist, the GOP has allowed the myth to persist by sticking its head in the sand when it concerns racial issues. The only reason why Democrats have dominated these conversations is that the right has surrendered its place in these discussions. Until the conservative movement adopts a new approach, the left will continue influencing the American public on racial issues.